The 77 small-scale fishing boats of the Pitiusas (22 from Formentera and 55 from Ibiza) will carry devices (green boxes, although they are blue) for location and monitoring that will allow them to be identified and to know the date and time of their geographical position, their course and their speed. The installation of these devices, which will be completed before November 11, is part of the Management Plan for Professional Artisanal Fishing in the inland waters of the Pitiusas, which is still in draft form, but that the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mae de la Concha, wants to implement in March, when the next fishing season begins. De la Concha, who traveled yesterday to Ibiza to give details on the green boxes, explained that this plan “has been achieved with enough consensus,” although she admitted that “there is always some skepticism. It fits, she said, the markedly seasonal model of fishing activities of the Pitiusas.
The councillor believes that the advantages that the green boxes provide “are so obvious that, in the short term, everyone will be convinced” that they represent a significant improvement for the sector. For example, they will make it possible to know the degree of compliance with the future management plan, which contains an important novelty: thanks to the green boxes, fishers will be able to distribute the 210 days they can work per year as they wish. “They will be able to fish during the summer as many days as they want, without having to take the rest days stipulated until now (30 hours). That will be compensated in winter with the breaks they deem appropriate,” said De la Concha, who suggested that this solution “is the best taking into account the high seasonality that exists on the island, with a much higher demand in summer,” in addition to coincide with the time of lobster catches. The logical thing,” added the councillor, “is that the bulk of the days are used when there is more demand”.
“They will be able to fish the days they want during the summer, without having to take the rest days stipulated until now (30 hours). This will be compensated in winter with the breaks they consider convenient”
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